Rack and pinion feeding apparatus



Aug. 27, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 25, 1967 INVENTOR5.

BEPLYN E. BAPINGER BY JOHN A. HER

AT TOPNEYS Aug. 27, 1968 J. A. HUBER ET AL RACK AND PINION FEEDINGAPPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 25, 1967 On E w .6 MN O nn N TONE:R B O N H HIT IE 1 A m A L N i B J Y B Aug. 27, 1968 J. A; HUBER ET AL3,398,589

RACK AND PINIQN FEEDING APPARATUS Filed May 25, 1967 4 SheetsSheet- 5INVENTORS.

BEPLYN E. BAPINGER BY JOHN A. HUBER WEEE ATTORNEYS Aug. 27, 1968 J. A.HUBER ET AL 3,398,589

RACK AND PINION FEEDING APPARATUS Filed'May 25, 1967 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 ii I /02 mfi'N oRs. U2 /3/ BERLYN E. BAPINGEP BY JOHN A. HUBER ATTORNEYSStates 3,398,589 RACK AND PINION FEEDING APPARATUS John A. Huber,Birmingham, and Berlyn E. Baringer,

Southfield, Mich., assignors to US. Industries, Inc., Detroit, Mich., acorporation of Delaware Filed May 25, 1967, Ser. No. 641,201 8 Claims.(Cl. '74--77) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Summary of the invention Thisinvention relates to strip stock feeding machines and more particularly,to a rack and pinion apparatus for driving the feed rolls in astep-by-step fashion.

It is desirable in many instances to feed strip stock into a processingmachine such as a punch, in predetermined lengths. The feeding of thestrip stock in such predetermined lengths calls for a feeding machinewhich operates in a step-by-step fashion. Heretofore such step-by-stepfeeding action has been produced by rack and pinion drive apparatusesconnected to the drive gear trains of the feed rolls. However, in orderto adjust the reciprocating movement of the rack to adjust the length ofstrip stock being fed by the machine, it is necessary in the prior artmachines to stop the machines. A further disadvantage of the prior artrack and pinion apparatuses is that the means for connecting the rack tothe row arm are subject to loose connections between the rack and thethrow arm which permit relative sidewards and up and down movementduring reciprocation of the rack. Accordingly, it is an important objectof the present invention to provide an improved rack and pinionapparatus which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art rack andpinion drive means for strip stock feeding machines.

It is another object of the invention to provide a rack and pinionapparatus for driving the feed rolls of a strip stock feeding machinewhich is simple and compact in construction, economical to manufacture,and eflicient in operation.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improvedrack and pinion drive apparatus for a strip stock feeding machine whichincludes a crack pin head provided with guide means for driving andguiding the throw arm of the rack and pinion apparatus during operationto guide the throw arm in two relative perpendicular planes.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a noveland improved rack and pinion apparatus for driving the feed rolls of astrip stock feeding machine which includes a means for pivotallymounting the rack to the throw arm, a means for locking the pivotallymounting means in an adjusted position on the throw arm, and means foradjusting the pivotal mounting means longitudinally on the throw arms,and further means for adjusting the throw arm longitudinally relative tothe rear pivotal axis of the throw arm.

Other features and advantages of this inventionwill be atent C 3,398,589Patented Aug. 27, 1968 apparent from the following detailed description,appended claims, and the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a partial side elevational view of a strip stock feedingmachine showing the lower end of the machine and a rack and pinion drivemeans made in accordance with the principles of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a partial side elevational view of the upper end of the stripstock feeding machine illustrated in FIG. 1, and showing the upper endof the rack and pinion drive means; I

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, enlarged, horizontal section view of thestructure shown in FIG. 1, taken along the line 33 thereof, and lookingin the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, enlarged, elevational section view of the rackcarrier structure illustrated in FIG. 1, taken along the line 4-4thereof, and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, enlarged, elevational section view of the throwblock adjusting worm assembly, taken along the line 55 of FIG. 1, andlooking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary, enlarged, elevational section view of the throwblock micro adjusting shaft assembly, taken along the line 66 of FIG. 1,and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 7 is a broken, fragmentary, enlarged, sectional view of the throwblock adjusting worm assembly, taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 1, andlooking in the direction of the arrows; and,

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary, enlarged, elevational section view of the throwblock adjusting worm shaft assembly, taken along the line 88 of FIG. 1,and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings, and in particular to FIG. 2, the numeral10 generally designates a dual roll strip stock feeding machine which isadapted to receive strip stock material indicated by the referencenumeral 11 from a preceding strip stock processing machine, such as astraightening machine, and feed the strip stock 11 in a step-by-stepfashion into another processing machine, such as a punch press, a poweroperated shears, and the like. As shown in FIG. 2, the strip stockmaterial 11 enters the feeding machine 10 and advances through a pair ofanti-back-up rolls 12 and 13, and then between a first set of drive orfeed rolls 14 and 15. The strip stock material 11 next passes between asecond set of feed rolls 16 and 17, and thence into the nextaforementioned strip stock material processing machine.

As shown in FIG. 2, the feed rolls 14, 15, 16 and 17 are rotatedintermittently by a suitable gear train which is operated by thereciprocating rack 18 which rotates the pinion 19 when the rack 18 ismoved downwardly. The pinion 19 is connected through a suitableoverrunning clutch (not shown) to the shaft 20 on which is fixed thedrive gear 21. The drive gear 21 drives the gear 22 which is fixed onthe shaft 23 that carries the feed roll 14. The gear 22 drives the idlergear 24 which drives the gear 25 that is fixed on the feed roll shaft 26that carries the feed roll 16 The idler gear 24 drives the idler gear 27that drives the gears 28 and 29 on the feed roll shafts 3t) and 31 thatcarry the feed rolls 15 and 17. The aforementioned gear drive is merelyillustrative of a suitable drive means for conveying the intermittentdrive power from the pinion 19 to the feed rolls. The numeral 34indicates a run-in motor for loading a new strip of material 11 into themachine 10 with a continuous movement. The motor 3-4 drives the shaft 23through the drive belt 35 and the pulleys 36 and 37. The invention isdirected to the following described mounting and actuating structure.

As shown in FIG. 4, the lower end of the rack 18 is rotatably mounted ona throw block or arm 38 which has one end rollably mounted on a crankpin retainer 39. The crank pin retainer 39 is fixed to the crank pin 40which is rotatably mounted to the outer end of the crank 41. As shown inFIG. 3, the inner end. of the crank 41 is fixed by the screws 42 to oneend of the drive shaft 43. The drive shaft 43 is rotatably journaled atone end by the roller bearing 44 which is mounted in a machine framewall 45. The other end of the drive shaft 43 is supported by a pair ofbearing means 46 and 47 which are mounted in the machine frame walls 48and 49, respectively.

The drive shaft 43 is driven by the gear 50 which is secured to theshaft 43 in a position between the bearlugs 46 and 47. The gear 50 isdriven by the pinion gear 51 which is fixed on the shaft 52 that isjournaled by the bearings 53 and 54 on the machine frame walls 48 and49. A drive gear 55 is fixed on the shaft 52 for driving the gear 51.The drive gear 55 may be driven by any suitable power means such as theelectric motor 56 in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 4, the crank pin 40 is rotatably mounted by the pair ofbearings 57 and 58 on the crank 41. The crank pin retainer includes aC-shaped carrier or head comprising the vertical plate 59 that isattached to the crank pin 40 and an integral upper horizontal plate 60and an integral lower plate 61. The outer end of the throw block or arm38 is rollably supported in the C- shaped carrier by the followingdescribed structure.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the throw block 38 is provided with anelongated wear bar 62 along the top surface thereof and with anelongated wear bar 63 along the bottom surface thereof. The top surfaceof the wear bar 62 is rollably engaged by the rollers 64 and 65 as shownin FIG. 1. The rollers 64 and 65 are rotatably mounted on the eccentricpins 66 and 67, respectively. As shown in FIG. 4, the eccentric pin 66is secured in an adjusted position by any suitable means, as by the lockscrew 68. The eccentricity of the pins 66 and 67 permits the rollers 64and 65 to be adjusted relative to the bar 62 to take up any looseness orplay caused by wear. As shown in FIG. 1, the bottom wear bar 63 is alsoguided by a similar pair of rollers 69 and 70 which are mounted on theeccentric pins 71 and 72.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wear bars 62 and 63 are guided laterally in theC-shaped retainer pin head 39 by three spaced apart cam rollers 73, 74and 75, on each side of each wear bar. It will be seen that theaforedescribed rollers in the C-shaped head provide guiding action intwo perpendicular directions to the throw block 38 while it is driven bythe C-shaped head.

The rack 18 is rotatably mounted on the throw block 38 by the followingdescribed structure. As shown in FIG. 4, the throw block 38 is providedwith a longitudinally extended T-shaped slot 76 in which is slidablymounted the head 77 of a T-bolt 78. The shaft 79 of the T-bolt 78 isslidably mounted in the sleeve bushing 80 which has a shoulder 81 thatabuts the throw block 38. The sleeve 80 extends into the stepped bore 82formed in the lower end of the rack 18. The sleeve 80 is rotatablyjournaled in the bore 82 by a roller bearing having an inner race 83 andan outer race 84. The inner end of the inner race 83- abuts a shoulderon the sleeve 80. The outer end of the inner race 83 abuts an annular,inner piston 85 which is slidably mounted around the shaft 79 of theT-bolt 78. The outer race 84 is retained in place by a circular bearingretainer 86 which is secured to the rack 18 by a plurality of screws 87.

As shown in FIG. 4, the bearing retainer 86 forms a cylinder 88 in whichis slidably mounted the inner piston 85 and the outer, annular slidablepiston 89. The outer piston 89 is retained on the T-bolt shaft 79 by thewasher 90 and the lock nut 91. The T-bolt shaft. 79 is provided with thetransverse air passage 92 and the axial passage 93 for conveying airunder pressure, or some other pressurized fluid, from the union 94,which would be connected to a suitable source of pressurized air orother fluid, into the cylinder 88 between the pistons 85 and 89. It willbe seen that the pressurized fluid in the space between the pistons 85and 89 will spread these pistons apart so as to pull the T-bolt 78outwardly, or to the left as viewed in FIG. 4, and lock the T-bolt in adesired adjusted position in the throw block 38.

The position of the T-bolt in the throw block 38 may be adjusted by theadjusting screw 95 which is longitudinally disposed in the throw block38 and threadably mounted through the bore 96 (FIG. 4) in the T bolthead 77. The length of the strip stock segment fed by each stroke of therack 18 may be adjusted.

The structure for rotating the adjusting screw 95 is shown in FIGS. 5and 7. As shown in FIG. 7, the front end of the adjusting screw 95 isrotatably mounted in the bearing means 97 carried in the annular bearingretainer 98. A lock nut 99 is threaded on the front end of the adjustingscrew 95 and forces the retainer 98 against the front end of the throwblock 38. The rear part of the adjusting screw 95 is rotatably supportedby the bearing means 100 which is carried in the gear box 101 that issecured to the rear end of the throw block 38 by the screws 102.

As shown in FIG. 7, a worm wheel 103 is secured to the rear end of theshaft 95 and is locked in an axial position by a lock nut and washergenerally indicated by the numeral 104. The rear end of the shaft 95 issupported by the sleeve bushing 105 which is carried in the gear housingcover 106 that is secured in place by the screws 107.

As shown in FIG. 5, the worm wheel 103 is driven clockwise orcounter-clockwise by the worm gear 108 carried on the shaft 109 that isjournaled in the spaced bearings 110 and 111 in the base 112 of the gearhousing 101. The shaft 109 is coupled to the output or drive shaft 113of a suitable reversing fluid motor 114, as a reversing air motor. Themotor 114 is secured to the base 112 by a suitable adapter 115.

The rear end of the throw block 38 is hingedly mounted on an eccentricmicro adjusting shaft for fine adjustments of the length of stock to befed by the rack and pinion feeding apparatus of the present invention.As shown in FIG. 6, the throw block 38 is provided with a cylindricalrecess 116 on one side, at the rear end thereof, in which is seated abearing 117 that is held in place by the bearing retainer 118. A firstshaft portion 119 is rotatably mounted in the bearing 117 and it iseccentrically secured to the front end of a second shaft 120. The shaft120 is journaled in the sleeve bushings 121 and 122 carried in themachine frame housing 123.

The rear end of the shaft is rotatably supported by a bearing 124 heldin place by the retainer 125 in the gearing housing 126. A worm wheel127 is secured to the shaft 120 and is rotated by the worm gear 128which is shown in FIG. 8. The worm gear 128 is carried on the shaft 129which is rotatably journaled by the bearings 130 and 131 in the base 132of the gear housing 126. The shaft 129 is connected by the coupling 133to the output shaft 134 of a suitable gear reducer means 135 which isdriven by a suitable electric motor 136. It will be seen that when themotor 136 is actuated, the eccentric shaft 119 will be rotated to make amicro adjustment of the arm or throw block 38 relative to the rack 18.

In use, the crank pin carrier or head 39 would be adjusted to thedesired position on the crank arm to provide the desired length of stripstock for each feeding movement of the rack 18. The drive means for thecrank would then be actuated and as the crank rotates the front end ofthe throw arm 38 is oscillated upwardly and downwardly about its pivotalaxis at the rear end of the throw arm. The crank pin carrier slidesbackwardly and forwardly by means of the guide rollers. The lastdescribed action actuates or reciprocates the rack 18 upwardly anddownwardly to provide power rotation to the drive pinion 19. It will beseen that the position of the T-bolt which secures the rack to the throwarm may be automatically adjusted while the rack and pinion apparatus isoperating by the aforedescribed adjusting screw apparatus and pistonmeans for locking the T-bolt in place. This position of the T-bolt inthe throw arm provides means for adjusting the length of the strip stockbeing fed by the feeding machine. A micro adjustment of the relativedistance between the axis of the T-bolt and the pivotal axis of the rearend of the throw arm may be made to adjust the length of the strip stockbeing fed by rotating the eccentric mounting shaft which pivotallymounts the rear end of the throw arm.

While it will be apparent that the preferred embodiment of the inventionherein disclosed is well calculated to fulfill the objects above stated,it will be appreciated that the invention is susceptible tomodification, variation and change without departing from the properscope or fair meaning of the subjo-ined claims.

What we claim is:

1. A rack and pinion apparatus for operating the drive means of the feedrolls of a strip stock feeding machine in an intermittent fashion tofeed predetermined lengths of the strip stock, comprising:

(a) a pinion connected to the feed roll drive means;

(b) a rack having the upper end meshed with said pinion for rotating thepinion when the rack is reciprocated upwardly and downwardly;

(c) a crank pin head having a crank pin fixed to one side thereof;

(d) a power driven rotatable crank having one end rotatably connected tosaid crank pin for rotating the crank pin head;

(e) a throw arm having the front end movably mounted in the crank pinhead;

(f) means for pivotally mounting the rear end of the throw arm; and,

(g) means for pivotally mounting the lower end of the rack on the throwarm, whereby when the crank is rotated the throw arm will be pivoted toreciprocate the rack upwardly and downwardly, and the crank pin headwill drive and guide the throw arm.

2. A rack and pinion apparatus as defined in claim 1,

wherein:

(a) said crank pin head is provided with a plurality of guide rollersfor rollably supporting the front end of said throw arm.

3. A rack and pinion apparatus as defined in claim 2,

wherein:

(a) some of said guide rollers are mounted on an eccentric shaft foradjusting the guide rollers toward and away from the throw arm.

4. A rack and pinion apparatus as defined in claim 2,

wherein:

(a) said throw arm is provided with a pair of wear bars for engagementby said guide rollers for guiding said throw arm when it is oscillatedin two relative perpendicular planes.

5. A rack and pinion apparatus as defined in claim 1,

wherein:

(a) said means for pivotally mounting the rack on the throw arm includesa T-bolt; and,

(b) means for releasably locking said T-bolt to the throw arm.

6. A rack and pinion apparatus as defined in claim 5,

wherein:

(a) said means for locking the T-bolt to the throw arm includes a fluidoperated piston means.

7. A rack and pinion apparatus as defined in claim 5,

wherein:

(a) said throw arm is provided with means for adjusting the position ofthe T-bolt longitudinally of the throw arm.

8. A rack and pinion apparatus as defined in claim 1,

wherein:

(a) said means for pivotally mounting the rear end of the throw armincludes an eccentric shaft for adjusting the distance between the axisof rotation of the rear end of the throw arm and the axis of rotation ofthe means for rotatably connecting the rack to the throw arm forchanging the length of the strip stock being fed by the feeding machine.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,270,080 1/ 1942 Oakley 74772,461,688 2/1949 Illsche 7477 X 2,601,920 7/1952 Salfisberg 74--77 X2,971,388 2/1961 Koppel 7477 FRED C. MATTERN, 111., Primary Examiner.

LEONARD H. GERIN, Assistant Examiner.

